Review: POKEMON LEGENDS: ARCEUS Is a Brave First Step That Shows Promise

Pokémon Legends: Arceus released at the end of January, and it’s been interesting to watch the reactions over the past couple of weeks while I played it in the little time I had available for gaming. As a long time fan of the franchise, I was pumped after the first trailer dropped. Luckily, Nintendo was kind enough to provide me with the game to review. Legends: Arceus was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. You can play it now on Nintendo Switch.

Legends: Arceus is a very interesting game to play and think about. The team decided to branch out from the normal formula for a mainline game and I really hope they build upon this in the future. Overall, I’ve enjoyed my experience in the game. However, it does feel like it’s a little unpolished. We’ve seen some very similar games already do a lot of the things achieved in Legends: Arceus, but on a much grander scale which makes this game feel paltry by comparison. Let’s break this down a bit further.

First, let’s tackle the audio for this game. This is actually a highlight in my opinion. The score stood out to me more than any other recent Pokémon game. It sounds bigger and more epic which is perfect since that what the team appears to have aimed for. The score definitely scored big with me. I wish there had been some voice acting in this title, but alas, it’s not there. Also, I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get refreshed Pokémon cries. I mean, it’s a small thing for the players, but it’s these small things that really could have taken the game up a notch.

Visually, the game is a little lacking for me. Now, I’m not usually one that complains about graphics in a Pokémon game. I don’t play them for the graphics. However, Legends: Arceus was full of grander promises. You enter a world with fewer cities and less of a human impact on the world, but it feels sparse and empty. Yes, the textures could’ve been better and I would’ve appreciated it, but I would more appreciate the world to not feel so empty. More trees, more tall grass, more Pokémon. Right now, it all feels very grouped and planned. You go to spot A and it’s got an obligatory patch of tall grass, two trees, and a bunch of Paras. When you go to spot B you’ve got a pond, two patches of tall grass, and a few Psyducks. Between those spots? There’s a tree here and there with a Pokémon or two nearby. We’ve had bigger games on the Switch that look better graphically and have a fuller-feeling world.

As far as the story of the game, I want to say that it’s interesting. Unfortunately, it feels a little generic to me and they don’t push you to continue it, rather it feels like they actually push you to ignore it. I don’t want to go into detail, but the main goal of the game is not to complete the Pokédex. That is a secondary quest that you are given, but it quickly becomes the focus of the game and in order to do that you need to go out and interact with Pokémon a ton. This is an aspect of the game that I did not enjoy. You have to actively go out and catch multiples of a Pokémon to complete their Pokédex entries. I think it goes up to 25 of a Pokémon to add data. Thankfully, you can stop after like 5, but that’s not something I enjoy. There are other ways to help build the Pokédex, but catching several of the same kind is a big one. All this to say that I have spent a lot of time working on building my Pokédex because they make it seem like that’s what you need to do instead of working on the story and so I haven’t finished it.

Let’s talk about gameplay. Originally, fans were led to believe the game was an open world experience. This turned out to be less true than originally thought. The game plays out more in instanced zones similar to games in the Monster Hunter franchise. When you leave the main town, Jubilife Village, you pick an area you want to explore and then you basically teleport there and are free to explore that area. It’s not a bad system in all honesty. Yes, a true open world experience would be incredible, but this didn’t bother me so much.

When you’re out exploring, you’ll encounter wild Pokémon like many Pokémon games, but you don’t cut to a battle screen. You can choose to engage the Pokémon in battle (some require it to be captured) or you could run away or just throw a poke ball at it in an attempt to capture it (this happens a lot). The Pokémon may attack you (not your Pokémon, but you the trainer, unless you send out one of your Pokémon) or try to run away from you because they want to be free. I really like this for the most part. I wish there was a better indicator of how hurt you, the trainer, are (right now it’s just a red border gets bigger and bigger), but I like how it helps the Pokémon feel more natural and helps you understand better when people talk about how scary the wild areas are because of the dangerous Pokémon. Sadly, I still feel like there should be a larger population of Pokémon running around. One aspect of exploration that I do not like is that you cannot swim or climb or jump on your own. You can walk, run, and dodge. You can eventually unlock Pokémon that you can ride in order to do other types of traversal like climbing and swimming, but it takes quite a while to unlock many of those and it’s frustrating that you can’t climb from the get-go.

The battle system has undergone some changes as Pokémon will unlock Strong Style and Agile Style versions of their moves which affect the move order in certain situations that can lead to you or your opponent getting multiple hits in before the other gets a turn. It’s interesting and I’m still unsure how I feel about it. Also, many of the moves fans know have been changed in some capacity or appear to be absent. I have found that most moves that my Pokémon learn are ones that deal damage. If it inflicts a status condition or changes stats, it’s uncommon to see those. The sleep condition appears to have been changed to work more like paralysis which was an interesting move in my opinion.

Some changes that I do like are the fact that Pokémon don’t forget moves as they level. They continue to learn moves after the first four and then you can go in at any time and change your Pokemon’s moveset. I love this! I also like how you can change your Pokemon’s name whenever you want without a Name Rater or other NPC. Just open the menu and go for it. One aspect that I am neutral about that others don’t like as much is that you choose when your Pokémon evolves after they hit the level requirement. You just go into the menu and tell them to evolve instead of it happening at the end of the battle. I can understand why some people aren’t fans, but I didn’t mind. I do really like the new evolution animation though.

I don’t think that I really like the new inventory system. You start with 23 slots and can increase to a maximum of 60. I’ve upgraded mine a decent amount and am constantly running into issues of not having enough space. The ability to craft items in the field is nice and helpful, but I feel like there was a mismatch between obtaining some recipes and having access to their materials.

At the end of the day, I think Legends: Arceus made some big changes to Pokémon games that fans are grateful for. I think there are definite areas of improvement still and hopefully this game will encourage Game Freak to keep experimenting like this and refine it. This game does provide a new experience for fans and can be fun (I just hope you like catching 25 Bidoof). Just remember that this is not a typical Pokémon game and there are a lot of changes made with familiar aspects to help it feel connected.